Time Person Of The Year 2012 – 2

Charity! What is it that really gets one person to step forward and admit another as a role model?

There’s a riddle called spiritual freedom. It says you can’t love yourself until you first love God & you can’t love God until you first love yourself. The solution is whatever you do to your neighbor you do to God.

A reader of the first part of this article here on Naijastories.com held opinions against my choice of a living human being as a spiritual role model. I was happy to wait the few days before Obama’s renewal ceremony, believing that the gains of reinventing presidential politics would quickly produce its next gift in that nation’s tradition. I admit that I was hoping for a monumental change with equally monumental benefits for every average citizen in their national dream. I wished Barack Obama could have done the impossible everything to have Mitt Romney be his guest, to sit nearby at his Inauguration. It would have taken great acts of charity on both sides to expect and accept it given what divides them. Imagine what it would have done worldwide for leaders working together for one destiny. Thank God that it did not happen too soon. As it turned out, there are still many leaders even in the leading nation on earth who do not see that democracy also means whatever you do to one of your own, you do to God. It’s the second tool of freewill. The others are: 1. Where two or more gather in my name I’m there. 3. Come unto me and I shall lift you up. They are similar in every religion.

It is easy to speculate why that leap in understanding did not happen. The least of all must be that having a tool is one thing and turning it into a technique to make a key so anyone can unlock the truth of it here and now is quite another. That key or talent unlocks every truth from mineral to man and from man to God.

That is what could have prevented Mitt Romney from demanding such a monumental invitation?

Every day in one or other corner of this world man continues revealing that life on this planet is increasingly being sustained by every action whose sole motive is sacrifice, or individuals and groups giving of commitment to doing what needs doing for the good of all rather for oneself. China’s monumental pollution is akin to Nigeria’s curse of politicians, crises of self-renewal calling for true role models in more and deeper areas of human life. Mitt Romney presumed 2013 would see his presidential inauguration but after the vote it became clearer that he could have at least done a lot more of the things his opponent did so well to win. Imagine for a moment that Romney’s team adopted Obama’s team strategy as the role model. Their offense would be worlds apart from Nixon’s and without copyright violations to care about. Yet it is easier said than done, considering that it’s the very reason many politicians in the failing religions preach one thing and practice another thing?

It was possible to underestimate their opponent for shorter or longer times and for the wrong reasons, except the willingness to see the good and praise it. This wisdom off Alex Haley’s Roots was what Romney needed to demand his invitation to bid Obama’s presidential inauguration goodwill beyond all expectations. The chance to adopt Obama as his next role model for presidential campaign ambition makes correct and easy wisdom similar to why a student should not fail an exam again to repeat a class. Whereas nations claim in their diplomacy not to have permanent friends and their individual politicians in this sense can accept to serve in opponent’s cabinets for the national good, would it be kind or necessary to pretend that party followers enjoy it when their leaders demonize their divisions. It is worse in Nigeria where the vote is also demonized.

In the same way that there is a human answer to every physical problem, so too is there a spiritual answer to all human and physical problems. Since humans are the highest forms of creature on earth, it helps to always start from the top wherever possible. The human body is a single tool in the care of the creator. And each piece of the body’s many parts and functions stands out as a tool in its own right. Nature as a whole is also a tool in the care of man, as man is to God, but here is the case for human evolution into perfect image and likeness of the creator. On earth, we are spirit learning how to be human. So few can see evolution’s good and praise it, let alone understand that it is continuing, uninterrupted and eternally leading everyone’s self-discipline into talents using tools and technique to prove the full range of truth from material and human to spiritual freedom.

As we each learn and earn to turn every tool within us and in nature into our advantage, we are growing in becoming more perfect image and likeness of the creator. As each school makes children learn the progression from role models as parents into role models as teachers, so the school of hard knocks called life presents our role models as opponents or partners until we learn the greatest tool of them all is love for God.

Nigeria’s lesson of charity from how Mitt Romney and Barack Obama could have changed this world was for both to have quickly become buddies for a good fight over every citizen voter’s interests. Nigeria’s gains would have been terrific if Atiku Abubakar and Goodluck Jonathan did the unimaginable for the sake of their country. In addition, there might have been no Boko Haram if Mohammadu Buhari also went all the way to salute the winner despite the hurt of vote capture miracles, while retreating to reinvent for the sake of the greater good. Wherever pairs of opponents look one another in the eye standing tall in the name of what unites humanity, true miracles will happen. But human disconnections from its divinity ruptures this faith in the gift of God’s divine will. Religions need new role models and I always recommend Harold Klemp of Eckankar.